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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701563">A Question of Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/novailer/pseuds/novailer'>novailer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Danny Phantom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Clockwork is a good dad, Danny's parents are a bit ooc, M/M, Rich history, bit of an angsty start, but meant as family fluff, vlad trying to be a dad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 04:00:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,761</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701563</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/novailer/pseuds/novailer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After an accident, in which Danny’s ghost powers got revealed to his parents, he is staying with a certain time ghost until he gets his problems with his parents worked out. Vlad Masters, since he still wants to win Danny as a son, is not amused by this and tries everything to find out who took Danny in. What he did not know was what fate has in store for them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clockwork &amp; Danny Fenton, Clockwork/Vlad Masters, Danny Fenton &amp; Vlad Masters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>138</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Please be patient with me. This is my first posted fanfiction and english is not my native language. Forgive me. Danny´s parents are a bit out of character for plot reasons, but better than killing them I guess.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wrong time, wrong place. Danny just wanted to go to his parents to ask if Tucker could stay over on the weekend. And as soon as he arrived down in the basement he was hit by a laser.</p><p>He remembered that his parents were talking about some kind of new invention they called the “Ghost Seperator”, which was supposed to separate a ghost from a human body it possessed, but by the looks there were giving him he could tell that the beam had a different effect on him.</p><p>They were staring at him silently in shock, mouths agape. “Phantom! It is the ghost boy! What did you do to our son?! Where is he?!” The voice of his father was shaking, and he looked like he was ready to charge at the boy at any second.</p><p>Danny’s eyes darted quickly to his hands and to his horror he noticed he had transformed into Phantom the moment he was hit with the beam of his parent's machine.</p><p>Apparently, it was not only a machine to separate a ghost from a body, but also to force the ghost transformation of a halfa.<br/>
This was one of the worst possible ways how his powers could have been revealed to them. By one of their ghost inventions.</p><p>Panic rose in him. “Mom! Dad! I can explain this!”</p><p>His mother grabbed a nearby ghost gun and pointed it at him and his father shouted, “What are you doing here Phantom?! Why were you possessing our boy?!”</p><p>Maddie was getting ready to shoot at him when Danny panickily raised his hands in surrender.<br/>
“I am not possessed! I <em>am</em> your son Danny. I-I wanted to tell you this sooner. I really did! I just did not know how!“ He spoke hastily fearing that his mom would fire the ecto-weapon at him at any moment.<br/>
“I've been a half ghost for almost a year now. Ever since that accident I had with the portal I've had these powers.” He turned back human to prove to his parents that it was really him.</p><p>His mother eyed him warily. “And we are supposed to believe you this bullshit, ghost?! There is no way a human can be half ghost!” Jack disclaimed. He was right. Danny didn't know how this was possible either, but ever since the day he half died in the portal he knew that it was in fact very much possible.</p><p>Also, that he wasn't the only one with this fate.</p><p>After all, there were two halfas in this world. Well technically 3 but he didn't count Danni as one since she is just a clone of him and thus not a natural born human.</p><p>“You have to believe me! If I were just possessing someone, the ghost would have been separated from the body by the laser, but that did not happen because Danny Phantom and I are the same person.” Danny hastily tried to explain.</p><p>Danny’s mom lowered the gun she pointed at him. “He is right if Danny was possessed by Phantom, the ghost would have been kicked out of his body. Also, he does look awfully like our Danny. His colours are just… inverted? How did we not notice this before! That something is wrong with our boy!”</p><p>This was not going how he wanted his reveal to be. “Nothing is wrong with me! I am still myself and I have no trouble with controlling my powers.” he exclaimed. “My powers are not bad or evil. I can help a lot of people with them and protect them from ghosts. In fact, I already did!”</p><p>“No, don’t worry Danny. We will find a way to fix this! To fix you!” his dad tried to reassure him. “Your father is right. These powers are dangerous we see Phantom all the time in the news. How he…how you got hurt. This has to stop!”<br/>
“You can’t just undo this! It is not possible I already am half dead!”</p><p>He should not have said that. Now things are only bound to get worse than this whole situation already is. His mother’s eyes filled with concern at his words. After all her own son just said that he was half dead!</p><p>He died in the portal they had built. It was all their fault.</p><p>Danny could here steps coming towards them.</p><p>“What is all this fuss about? Did one of dad’s ghost experiments escape again? What is going on here?” Jazz threw a worried glance at Danny when she came down into the basement.</p><p>He gave his sister a pleading look, hoping she could somehow magically get him out of this situation.</p><p>She always knew what to do, or at least she knew what to say to their parents to get them to listen.</p><p>“Careful Jazz! We don’t know what he could do to you. He is possessed! Or something the likes of it. We don’t know yet.” Jack tried to warn her.</p><p>“I already told you I won’t hurt anyone! Not even on accident I have everything under control!”</p><p>“What? No Danny would never hurt me! Calm down. Whatever happened here might seem a bit … confusing and overwhelming, but there is really no need to worry about Danny.” She stepped closer to her brother and laid a hand on his shoulder.</p><p>“Jazz you knew about all of this? Why didn't you tell us! Your brother is in danger we need to fix this ghost problem as soon as possible!” Danny’s mother did not look calmer after what his sister said. It only dragged Jazz into this as well.</p><p>“Mom, dad! Listen I don´t need to be “fixed” that is not even possible.</p><p>I am part ghost now. It´s in my DNA you can't just undo this without possibly making it worse…or maybe even killing me completely. I already tried! Just trust me and Jazz on this!”</p><p>Nervously glancing back and forth between his sister and his parents he awaited their next answer. Hoping they would just accept it as it is and not make it even more awkward.</p><p>His father shook his head. “No. We won’t give up without even trying. There has to be a way.”</p><p>This was the final straw for Danny. Why could they just never listen to him? He was always treated like a child. He was already fourteen god damn it! It's not like he was some toddler who couldn't look after himself.</p><p>Sure he understood that this was a shocking reveal for his parents but they were not considering him in the slightest.</p><p>He was hoping that his parents would understand him. Accept him as he was. Seems like he was wrong. He was disappointed of his parents.</p><p>“Why are you not listening to me?! Why can't you just accept it as it is?! I was right with keeping this a secret from you guys!”</p><p>The boy ran past Jazz and up to his room. He felt tears starting to rise but he tried to fight them back as best as he could for now. Now was not the right time for crying.</p><p>First, he needed some space. He did not want to stay here any longer. In addition to this his parents probably would not calm down for at least the next few hours and he definitely did not want to risk anything.</p><p>With how they were overreacting, they would strip him down on a lab table and try to cut the ghost out of him.</p><p>Trusting his parents right now was risky after what they just said to him.</p><p>As soon as he arrived in his room, he grabbed a backpack and tried to pack as many clothes and other things as he could.</p><p>The yelling voices of his parents and sister could be heard up to his room, but he could not make out what exactly thery were arguing about, only that it meant nothing good for him.</p><p>Hopefully, Sam or Tucker could take him in for a while because staying at home definitely wasn't an option he liked. For the moment at least.</p><p>Without another thought he turned into Phantom and phased through the wall of his room and into the night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Danny escapes from home and has an inspiring talk with his archnemesis.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The cold night air hit Vlad’s skin. It has been dark for a few hours now and he was standing as Plasmius on top of one of the tallest buildings of the city and gazing into the dark. Today had been another stressful day as a mayor. </p>
<p>If he only had known earlier what a hazzle it would be to be the mayor of a city which is constantly haunted by ghosts, he would have chosen something else to pester Phantom. This stress was definitely not worth it. </p>
<p>He thought having power over the city would satisfy him, but it was more of the opposite. He wasn't even able to impress Maddie with this! </p>
<p>The only thing he got out of this was an even more annoying Jack who was now fangirling over him every time he did something in public as a mayor.</p>
<p>Maddie his old college love…he knew it was hopeless winning her over. She was married for years now, had two children, and was living the best life she could have. </p>
<p>It just angered him that he was not the one she chose. That it could have been his life. But no. He was the one who got hit by the blast from the Proto-Portal. He was the one who had to suffer years in the hospital. </p>
<p>Something was telling him that he should just give up on her, but he couldn’t bring himself to. That was the only thing motivating him for years. It was what kept him going through all the pain and problems he had with his ghost powers.</p>
<p>However, as the years went by, he slowly realized more and more that this was just an obsession. That his feelings were not as genuine as he thought.</p>
<p>But Maddie wasn’t his only obsession at the moment. Ever since the college reunion, where he found out that Maddie’s son was a halfa as well, he set himself as a goal to make Danny his son… or at least his student. He even tried to clone him for fucks sake!</p>
<p>He snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed a familiar presence approaching. Speak of the devil. Vlad had gotten quite good at spotting the other half ghost. Especially now since the boy had awakened his ice core. </p>
<p>Maybe this evening wasn’t completely wasted. He could still tyrannize the young half-ghost or maybe he was even able to convince him to finally come with him and become his apprentice.</p>
<p>He took off into the night sky, approaching the halfa at a rapid speed and launching an ecto-beam at him. </p>
<p>A mischievous grin spread across his face when he hit the other spot on and crashed onto the ground. </p>
<p>“Now who do we have here at this late hour! Are you even allowed to be up this late? Or could you possibly be running away from your parents because you finally noticed the incompetence of your father!” </p>
<p>Daniel stood up slowly and swayed a bit in his feet trying to regain his posture after the blow. He picked up the bag from the ground he dropped after the surprise attack. Vlad saw his eyes filling with anger. </p>
<p>“I am not in the mood today for this. Leave me alone I don’t want to fight toady. Do your weird plans without dragging me into this.” He wasn’t looking at him and his voice sounded rough as if he had been crying or screaming a lot. </p>
<p>Vlad was slightly perplexed by the others response, but he did not show it. Apparently, he hit a sore spot. The boy was too easy to see through. </p>
<p>Was he really running away from home? A fight perhaps? Had he revealed his ghost powers to his parents and was not accepted how he had imagined it? </p>
<p>This was his chance to get Daniel on his side. Him as Danny’s mentor and new father figure. Maybe he could even convince Maddie to come to him after she saw what a good father figure Vlad was.</p>
<p>The last part was just wishful thinking, but you could never know. Maybe his time had finally come to get everything he ever wanted. </p>
<p>There was one problem though. If Danny really got rejected for his ghost powers, then it didn’t look to good for him either. Maddie would hate him probably even more when she found out he was also a half ghost.</p>
<p>Second problem was that he had not aged since he turned about 30. Thankfully, this was not very obvious due to his silver hair and goatee or else this could have raised some questions to the Fenton’s. </p>
<p>This immortality could lead to some serious problems one day, but that was something he would deal later with. </p>
<p>He would find a way around this. Now he needed to get Danny to come with him. With or without Maddie, he would finally get some company. Someone he could call his family. </p>
<p>This reminded him of something else. Did Daniel even know that halfas were immortal? He never mentioned it to the boy before and he could not imagine the boy finding out by himself. It even took himself around ten years till he realised that he did not age anymore.</p>
<p>Well, he would surely find a way to tell him soon. Now he needed to focus back on Phantom though. </p>
<p>“My, my little badger. You are so easy to read. You could have just told me that you needed a better place to stay! I would take you in any time especially if it meant you abandoning your idiot of a father!” Vlad mumbled the last part as he floated closer to the other ghost now standing on the ground.</p>
<p>“Staying with you is literally the last thing I would do. Heck I would rather sleep on the streets! My problems at home don’t concern you in the slightest!” Daniel glared at him. </p>
<p>“You are just a mom stealing creepy old man! Also stop calling my dad an idiot! He is less of an idiot than you are!” Oh, now the boy crossed a line. His core started to flare up and he had to hold back to not beat the boy into the concrete. </p>
<p>His anger issues were definitely something he needed to work on.</p>
<p>“Just admit it! You wouldn’t be running from home if your parents were just a tad bit more competent! Just come with me! I’ll be your new father.” Vlad was annoyed. Why was Danny so difficult? Couldn’t he see that he was the best choice where he could stay?</p>
<p>“Do you seriously want to bother your friends with your family problems? You would just drag them into the mess you created! There is no one else you know who could be a better choice taking you in than <i>me<i>! I am the only one who can relate to your ghost problems and help you with them!” His red eyes stared down at Daniel glowing dangerously.</i></i></p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i></i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i></i>
</p>
<p>The boy looked contemplating for a moment. “You are right! I need someone who understands me and my powers, but also someone not connected to my parents. I should thank you for your idea! I know just the right ghost to ask!” he grabbed his phone out of his backpack and flew back into the direction he came from.</p>
<p>“Wait what?! Where are you going Daniel?!” Vlad didn’t get him. Just What was going on in the boy’s mind? </p>
<p>“Somewhere you would never be able to go to Fruitloop!” Now he was furious. He offered the boy everything and he just made fun of him like that. “Come back here!”<br/>
“Catch me if you can old man and then I might tell you where I go!” </p>
<p>When had the younger halfa gotten so fast? Daniel wasn’t that fast the last time they fought. And now he was easily outrunning him. Phantom flew around the next corner and when Vlad had reached it the boy was already nowhere to be seen. </p>
<p>God damn it. This could have been his chance and he screwed up. Who would the boy just go to? He did not know anyone that Danny had connections to in the ghost zone who would willingly take Phantom in. Well at least no ghost who wasn’t trying to get rid of him. </p>
<p>Or did he? If so, then he needed to find out who. This was his chance to win Danny as an apprentice and possibly adoptive son. He would not throw this chance away. </p>
<p>He didn’t like to admit it, but he felt strangely connected to the boy. Maybe because of their similar fate? Who knows, he just had a feeling that they both could have a good dynamic together, if Danny would just give it a try. </p>
<p>Shaking his head, he stopped chasing the boy and decided to return home. He already waisted enough time today. He would search later for him in the ghost zone. Or ask skulker to search for the boy for him.</p><hr/><p>As soon as he was sure that Vlad could no longer sense him, he called his sister on his phone. “Please just answer the call.” He mumbled silently to himself.</p>
<p>“Danny! Where are you? Our parents have gone crazy they are looking for you! I really don’t want to stress you, but if they’ll find you now, they really will try to run experiments on you-or better said Phantom. They are convinced that there is some way to “heal” you!” His sister whisper-shouted through the speaker. Great. Now his last hope of Jazz convincing his family to calm down also died down. “Jazz I’m fine. If you can call it like that looking at the circumstances. Where are they right now?”</p>
<p>“They are up in the Emergency Ops Center. Trying to find your ghost signature somewhere in the city.” She hastily replied. </p>
<p>“Great, they won´t be able to find it. I have blocked my signature on all our devices up there. You <i>have<i> to keep them occupied. I’ll try to sneak into the Ghost Zone. I know someone there, where I could maybe stay for a while until…all of this hopefully calms down.” Danny had almost reached the Fenton Works by now and turned invisible. </i></i></p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i></i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>“Are you sure of this Danny? I mean staying with Sam or Tucker definitely isn’t a save choice either, because that is surely where they look first, but can you really trust your ghost… acquaintance?” he could hear the worry in her voice. </p>
<p>“Don’t worry. I know I can trust him. Keep me updated on our parents.” He tried to reassure her. ”I-I have to fix this somehow. But they just hate ghost so much I don’t know if I can convince them to trust me ever again. Do you think they will understand?”</p>
<p>“I honestly don’t know…They sounded so convinced to “bring their real son back”. I don't think they will be happy when they find out that they can´t just erase your ghost side.” </p>
<p>Danny sighed. That was something he thought of as well. Hearing this from his sister made his heart ache though. </p>
<p>“I should go now. I have to quickly update Sam and Tucker of this situation before I go into the ghost zone. The connection there is not the best. Although I should be happy that my phone has internet connection there. Howsoever that even works. See you soon…hopefully. Love you Jazz.”</p>
<p>“Love you too Danny. Goodbye and be careful. I call you when they want to go down into the basement.” This goodbye hurt. Even if he knew there goodbye wasn´t for long. It still felt like he had lost his family today. </p>
<p>“Goodbye Jazz.” And with those words he ended the call. Danny quickly typed a text into the group chat of his friends, shortly summing up what had happened and that he would text them later again when he was somewhere where he was safe.</p>
<p>When he phased through the wall in the living room, the house was deadly quiet. Quickly he went downstairs to the portal and activated it. </p>
<p>That was it. He wouldn’t see his house for a while, but he hoped that it would be soon. </p>
<p>Noises were heard from above and he felt his phone vibrate. There was no time to stay any longer.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you like the new chapter! I am trying to write as much as possible since I want to post my planned Christmas chapter before Christmas xD</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Danny seeks Clockwork for help.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arriving in the Ghost Zone he tried to orient himself. Where was Clockwork’s tower again? The last times he had visited him he was flying aimlessly through the Zone and then suddenly he was there. Perhaps Clockwork was able to make his tower appear to those who he wanted to find him? Danny was pretty sure that was something the time ghost was able to do.</p>
<p>Settling for one direction he gave it a try and hopefully the clocktower would appear soon.</p>
<p>After around 10 minutes of flying through the ghost dimension he saw the clocktower appear in the distance. It worked! Well either that or he was just extremely lucky. </p>
<p>The tower was impressive, on the outside and as well on the inside. There was a constant ticking to be heard from the big main clock and rattling noises from the gears. “Clockwork?!” He called out for the ghost, walking deeper into the tower until he arrived in a bigger hall, which appeared to be the center of the tower. He remembered it from the first time he was here.</p><hr/><p>Clockwork was looking into one of the many time mirrors he created, looking at one of the possible futures of one certain halfa. </p>
<p>Their fates were bound to intertwine once more, only this time, he saw no way out. </p>
<p>In almost every timeline he would become an important part of Danny’s life. </p>
<p>At least in the better ones. Of course, there still were a few in which Danny ended up getting caught by his parents and them somehow failing in separating the ghost half from the boy and hurting him in the process or destroying his physical body completely.</p>
<p>He had to prevent these timelines from coming true. </p>
<p>He did not want anything to happen to the boy. The time ghost cared to much for him. Seeing the timeline come true in which his parents shot the Ghost Separator at him on accident was already a timeline he never thought would come true. </p>
<p>The chances for this to happen where so low and yet it happened anyway. It never ceased to fascinate him how some people just have the luck to make the most unlikely things happen. </p>
<p>But this time it resulted in getting him involved too. Clockwork knew that the next thing the boy would do was to come to him and ask him for help. </p>
<p>He thought about it for hours. Looking at all the possible outcomes. </p>
<p>Influencing the flow of time was against the rules. But he would do it <i>anyway<i>. The Observants could not stop him, they said Danny was his responsibility anyway after he kind of interfered with Danny’s fate of turning into Dan. </i></i></p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>So technically he already cheated on this timeline already. How bad could it be to interfere some more? </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>He had to admit that some of the outcomes of his fate with the young half ghost <i>intrigued<i> him. Becoming a fatherly figure for the teen was what was happening in most of them. </i></i></i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>A lot of the possibilities also involved Vlad Masters in one way or another.<br/>
The man was also a mystery to him. He watched his timeline for a while and the man just had a talent to make the least possible things happen to him. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Most of them had a disastrous end. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Looking at the best outcomes for Danny, he probably needed to talk to Vlad at some point though. He was almost looking forward to it. Meeting Plasmius was something he wanted to do for a while now. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>The man was amusing and entertaining him to some extend and he was curious what kind of bond he could make with him. But now was not the time to think of this any further. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Also, it wasn’t only his decision of what would exactly happen. It all still depended on Danny’s choices if Clockwork would become an important role in his life or not.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Speaking of the boy, it was almost time for him to appear at his tower.<br/>
Quickly he let all the mirrors disappear and changed his form from an old man to his middle-aged self. This form was probably more comfortable for Daniel when he arrived here.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Right now, he was in a more secluded part of the tower in a small library. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>He liked spending his free time in here, although free time was not really the right term for it since he had all the time in the world and was under no pressure. Existing outside of time had its benefits. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>A Voice was heard from the main hall. Calling his name. Danny is here now and searching for the older. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Clockwork teleported to where the boy was searching for him. “Hello Danny, I was already expecting you.” Daniel startled at the sudden appearance of the other and turned gasping around to face the sudden intruder but calmed down after realising it was the person he was looking for. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“Clockwork! Please I need your help! My parents discovered my secret of being a ghost and now I don´t know what to do. They said they want to get rid of my ghost side. They just don´t want to listen to me! I already told them that it´s not possible!” Tears started to well up in his eyes as he spoke. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“What…what if they don´t want me as their son anymore?! They hate ghosts and want nothing more than to get rid of them and to run experiments on them! If they find out that this is permanent, then they surely want to get rid of me too or-or run experiments on me!” </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>His breathing started to speed up and the tears finally started to fall. Clockwork embraced the younger into a hug. “Calm down Danny. I am sure they just need some time. It surely was just a shock for both. Until now they did not know of the existence of half ghosts after all.” </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“But what if they hate me now for what I am?!”</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>The boy clung to the time ghost and cried into his chest. All his build up worries of the past hours started to come up now that he knew he was safe. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“Let it out. Holding in your emotions is not good for you.” He rubbed circles onto the boys back as the teen cried into his chest.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>They stood like this for a while. After about half an hour Daniel had calmed down. He released the grip he had on Clockwork. “T-thanks I needed this.” </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“No worries boy.” He reassured the other. “I don´t know what to do now or where to go. At the moment it is not safe for me in Amity Park. I can't stay with my friends. That´s probably the first place my parents start looking for me.” </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>He looked at the floor a bit embarrassed. “So… I was wondering if maybe…you could take me in for a while? I mean if that is possible because you surely are busy with your time matters and all. I don’t want to be a burden to-“ </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“There is no problem with you staying for a while and since you are on summer break right now, you are also not missing school while staying here.” He interrupted the rambling of the younger ghost. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>There really weren't any issues with him staying at the Clocktower. He had even already prepared a spare room prior the arrival of the boy. The tower had plenty of unused rooms. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>A bit company was a nice change. The tower was a bit too quiet on some days.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>It could be a problem though when school was starting again. They needed to solve this before the end of the summer break.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“Really?! Thank you so much Clockwork!” Danny caught Clockwork in a hug and he ruffled the boy’s hair in response. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“We'll handle this together. But I can’t help you much with confronting your parents again. You still have to solve this by yourself. I gladly offer you a place to stay for as long as you need though.”</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Danny let go and smiled a bit. “Yes, I know. I still have to talk to them by myself.”</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“I’ll show you your room where you can stay for the time you are here.” Clockwork floated ahead and Danny followed.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“This will be your room for the time you stay here.” He stated as he opened a simple looking door in one of the hallways in the tower. “ I already prepared it for you before you arrived.”</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>The boy looked surprised as he said this. “You knew I would come to you?” The older ghost just stared at him with a blanc expression.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>“Oh… yes of course. Master of Time I get it. Just forget what I said.” He blushed a bit and averted his eyes after he realized his dumb question. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Of course he knew that he would come to seek him out for help. After all he was watching over the flow of time and knew what was happening next. Especially when the ghost himself was getting involved in something.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>A small smirk spread across Clockworks face as an answer. “Make yourself comfortable. I prepared a bed for you. Even if your ghost body doesn’t need sleep, I thought you still wanted to get some sleep in your human form. That’s what you are used to after all.”</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>The ghost pointed into a corner where a small bed stood. “It is not much but it should do for now. I leave you alone for now. Get some rest you had a stressful day. You know where to find me if you’ll need something.”</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Danny placed his bag to the side of the bed. He turned human and set on the bed. “Thanks Clockwork. I try my best to get some sleep.” </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Clockwork nodded and teleported back into the main hall to give the boy some time to himself.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p><hr/><p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>After Clockwork left, he unpacked some of his things from his bag. He wasn’t able to pack many clothes, but they would be enough for now. Maybe he could sneak into Tuckers place to lend some of his f he needed some more fresh clothes.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>He would not need a lot though. It was better if he spent more time as Phantom in the ghost zone anyway.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Danny grabbed his phone from the bag and sent his friends a quick message, telling them that he arrived safely at Clockworks place and that he could stay here for a while.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>His friends had sent him a lot of messages asking how it all had happened and reassuring him that it would all be okay. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>As he answered them all he noticed that his eyes were getting heavy. Deciding it would be better to get some sleep now, he put his phone way and laid down.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>‘What a day…will everything really get back to how it was? How should I confront mom and dad about this? I don’t know what to do…’ He stared blankly at the ceiling. </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>Tomorrow he would text Jazz to update him of their parents next plans. Maybe they had calmed down a bit by then and he could already try to talk to them? </i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <i>
      <i>
        <i>He closed his eyes and drifted slowly to sleep.</i>
      </i>
    </i>
  </i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know the Clocktower is not that big in the show, but let's just pretend that it is. Also I really love the idea of Clockwork beeing a responsible supporting dad. Hope you like it so far!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Danny tries to somewhat continue with his ghost "chores".</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was the day after Danny arrived at the clocktower. 8:30 in the morning. Clockwork assumed that Danny would get up at any moment and come to him. He hoped that the boy was able to get at least some decent sleep.</p>
<p>He had watched the Fenton’s for a bit while Daniel was asleep. They were working the whole night on something to find the boy. Also, they seemed to have collected some of Danny’s DNA traces to analyse it.</p>
<p>Soon they would see that the results showed that Danny could not turn back fully human. They had to accept him the way he was now. He wasn’t all too worried about that though. </p>
<p>They love and care about him a lot. His parents would not abandon him for something like this. They just needed more time to process this because they are way too stubborn when ghosts are involved. At least he hoped.</p>
<p>“Good morning Clockwork.” He heard Danny mumble from behind him. “Good morning. How did you sleep?” Answered the older ghost and turned around to face the boy who was floating behind him. Hair still messy from his sleep.</p>
<p>“Could have slept better. Still feeling a bit exhausted but I’ll manage. I will try to contact my sister now.” The teen said as he took his phone. “Maybe she has some good news for me. But even if they are still mad at me, this won’t stop me from my daily ghost patrol through Amity Park.” Danny said as he typed on his phone.</p>
<p>That’s what Clockwork impressed him about the boy. Always putting others first. He would even risk his safety to keep the people around him safe. </p>
<p>The time ghost was ready to do everything to get his life on the right track again.<br/>
“When you go back to your town, this might come in handy.” He walked up to the boy and summoned a time medallion into his hand. </p>
<p>This one looked a bit different though. It was a bit smaller and instead of a necklace, it was a bracelet. Clockwork figured that it would be better if the boy had something that did not get in the way when he fought.</p>
<p>He took Danny’s hand and put the medallion on. “With this you can teleport to Amity Park and back to the Clocktower whenever you want. It should make things easier for you.”</p>
<p>Danny looked at the bracelet on his arm. “Neat! How does this work?”</p>
<p>“Just focus where you want to go while holding onto the bracelet.” The ghost explained.</p>
<p>“I will try it then! But I need to wait for my sister’s response first.” Danny floated around in the hall they were in right now and looked around, observing the inside a bit closer. “Uh I will explore the tower a bit if you don’t mind?” </p>
<p>Clockwork nodded and continued with his work for now to let Danny explore the tower. So far, the younger had only been here when he was in a rush so it made sense that he would want to explore his new temporary home a bit more. </p>
<p>Not that he minded he had nothing to hide from the other. He did not posses a lot of personal stuff besides maybe some books.</p>
<p>Right now, everything was pretty calm in the Ghost Zone. Though it did not happen very often that a problem would come up which was bad enough that he had to interfere.</p>
<p>After a while Danny returned from his exploring. “This tower is huge!” Danny flew besides Clockwork and watched him work for a bit.</p>
<p>“Can I ask you a question?” Clockwork faced the boy and smiled at him. “Sure, as long as you don’t ask me something that has to do with your future, I can answer almost everything to you.”</p>
<p>“I was wondering this already the last times I visited. You can change your age right? Like sometimes you have the form of a young child and sometimes you look like an old man, but I haven’t seen you shift your age since I arrived here. Does this random happen or can you control it as you wish?”</p>
<p>“I can control it and change my age whenever I want”</p>
<p>Daniel looked at him nodding. “So, then this middle-aged version of you is your favorite?”</p>
<p>“No, I wouldn’t say it like that. I don’t really have a preference. Sometimes I shift my age constantly and sometimes I remain at one age for a longer period of time.” The time ghost answered. “It always depends on my mood.”</p>
<p>He heard a buzzing sound coming from Danny. Danny reached for his phone and looked at his messages. Eyes concentrating onto the screen. </p>
<p>He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “My parents were up the whole night, searching for me.” Danny’s eyes looked sad again. </p>
<p>“Jazz also said that it is not looking any better than yesterday. They still believe that the ghost side is manipulating me in some way. Also, they already called at Sam and Tucker’s place asking if I am with them.” </p>
<p>He sighed again. “The only good thing is that they haven’t figured out that I blocked their devices from picking up my ecto-signature.” </p>
<p>Clockwork put a hand on his shoulder. “Give them more time. You are their son and nothing will change that.” </p>
<p>“I hope they still see me as their son.” The boy mumbled quietly. “Well, I should ask my friends about our ghost patrol later. Maybe this will distract me a bit.”</p>
<p>“I am sure they will calm down soon” He tried to reassure him.</p>
<p>“When you get bored you can look through my library. I know you are not a big fan of reading, but maybe you will find something interesting in there. I have many books about the history of the ghost zone and other topics that you may find interesting.”</p>
<p>The boy smiled softly in response. Eyes still looking a bit sad. “Yeah, a bit reading can not hurt.”</p>
<p>The Clocktower was not really the best place to entertain a teen boy, but Daniel was a smart boy. He surely would find something to occupy himself with.</p><hr/>
<p>A few hours had passed by now. He agreed with his friends to meet at 8 pm at Tucker’s place. It was hopefully far enough away from his home. </p>
<p>They were not always patrolling together, but since they all had a lot to catch up to, this was a good excuse for them to meet up. </p>
<p>Right now, it was 7:40 pm. He decided to leave a bit earlier in case something went wrong with teleporting. Danny just wanted to say a quick goodbye to Clockwork before he left.</p>
<p>“Clockwork, I’ll be leaving soon. I’ll be back in about one to two hours.”</p>
<p>“Sure. Be careful. Just because most of your parent’s trackers can’t detect you doesn’t mean that they can’t find you.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I’ll be careful. I know it is kind of risky, but I won’t let them stop me from doing my patrols. There are still a lot of ghosts who like to cause trouble in Amity park.” He responded. </p>
<p>“Then until later” He waved a quick goodbye and grabbed his bracelet. ‘So, I just have to think where I want to teleport to’ He thought and closed his eyes so he could concentrate better. </p>
<p>He disappeared in a flash and the next moment he was in a secluded street near Tuckers house. ‘It worked! I did not land somewhere else like… Vlad’s living room or something.’ He shuddered internally. ‘Although that would have been kind of funny. Maybe I should try that next time and to scare him or prank him.’</p>
<p>He laughed mischievously to himself and turned invisible before flying the remaining distance to Tuckers place. When he arrived, he knocked on the window to Tuckers room before phasing through the wall.</p>
<p>Tucker and Sam were already there waiting for him. Sam must have had the same idea with coming a bit earlier to Tuckers place.</p>
<p>“Dude! There you are! You scared the hell out of us. Would it have been so hard to call us or something?” Tucker exclaimed when he saw Danny come into his room. </p>
<p>“Yeah…sorry. Yesterday was… a bit of a mess.” Danny answered and rubbed his neck awkwardly. </p>
<p>Sam slapped his shoulder lightly. “A bit of a mess? Danny we were sick of worry when we got your messages!”</p>
<p>He rubbed his arm dramatically where she fake-punched him. “Ow, yeah ok I get it I should have called. I just didn’t really feel like talking about it back then.”</p>
<p>“So, and what now? Got any news from Jazz?” Tucker said as he let himself drop onto his bed. “Yeah, she told me that my parents are still searching for me like crazy and that they still think that my ghost side is influencing me in some way.” Danny responded to his friend.</p>
<p>“Any ideas how you want to convince them that you are not some crazy ghost who wants to haunt the city and doom us all?” Sam looked at him questioning. “No, not really. Clockwork said I should give them some time to process this whole thing more.”</p>
<p>“You need to take care of this as soon as possible! Soon school starts again and when they are still hunting you like mad till then you will miss school as well. How do you want to explain this to our teachers? Sorry I can’t come or else my parents will try to exorcise me?” Sam snorted sarcastically.</p>
<p>“I will find a way. I’ll talk to them, but right now I just fear that going to them will backfire.” Danny admitted. “Also, I think that’s not the only problem. Vlad knows of my family troubles. I ran into him yesterday and he wasn’t very happy when I said that I would rather stay with a ghost in the Ghost Zone than with him.”</p>
<p>“You think that old man is planning something?” his friend asked. “For sure. He tried to get you on his side for a few times now.” Sam stated. “Also, we all know how stubborn Vlad is.”</p>
<p>“I would be surprised if he wouldn’t. Let’s just start with our patrol. I need to get myself on other thoughts.” The other two nodded in response. </p>
<p>Patrol went surprisingly uneventful. No sight of the Fentons. No trace of Vlad. Only the box ghost who was haunting an abandoned storage hall at the edge of town.</p>
<p>He hugged his friends as a goodbye and teleported back to the Clocktower.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey hey! It's me again. The day draws near when Danny has to encounter Vlad again and the plot I originally planned finally continues. This is getting longer than I intended to? PLease be pacient with me xD Next chapter will be some Danny and Clockwork bonding time.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Clockwork and Danny spent some time together and work on improving Danny's fighting skills.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a new “morning” in the Ghost Zone. After arriving at his new home yesterday, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. The first night he had not slept that well. His dreams were horrible. </p><p>In every dream it was the same. He was strapped down on a lab table. His parents looming over him and they were talking to each other, but he never understood a word. The next thing he remembers is a sharp pain before he woke up.</p><p>The same dream repeated itself over and over again and when he woke up, he was wide awake again. So he had a lot of sleep to catch up.</p><p>Thankfully, this night was a lot more peaceful and he felt well rested for the day.</p><p>Which was good because today he wanted to ask Clockwork if he could train him a bit. He never had any training in using his ghost powers properly. His abilities were all self-taught. Except that one training he had with Frostbite of course but he also only taught him the basics of how to use his ice core.</p><p>But he was still far from being skilled. So, he figured it might be a good opportunity to ask Clockwork to train him while he was here.</p><p>Also, it was getting kind of boring here at the Clocktower. He tried some reading yesterday and it was interesting for 2 hours or so, but reading the whole day just wasn’t for him. He needed some way to get rid of his excess energy. </p><p>Danny got up and went straight to Clockwork. “Morning Clockwork.” “Morning Danny.” The other responded. </p><p>“Sooo… I wanted to ask you if you could train me a bit while I am here? Like…How to handle my powers properly or maybe even show me some new stuff?” He looked at the older ghost with round puppy eyes.</p><p>“Sure, I can help you train getting stronger. When do you want to start?” Clockwork answered and chuckled a bit.</p><p>“Hmm…. How about now? I am feeling a bit bored right now.” He suggested. Clockwork let the mirror disappear which he was looking into before Danny arrived. “Very well, I could use a break right now. Let’s go behind the Tower, there is a bigger space which should be perfect to train.”</p><p>“Yes nice!” Danny exclaimed excitedly. “Then let’s go!”</p>
<hr/><p>Clockwork just could not say no to the boy when he asked him to train with him. It made him happy seeing the boy all excited and jumpy, but training would not be that easy since Danny had a different core than him, so he could sadly not teach him anything related to his ice powers. </p><p>Thinking back to the last time he saw Danny fight, they needed to work on a lot of the basics first before they could start on anything new though. The boy had a horrible fighting posture, and his dodging skills were terrible.</p><p>Clockwork made his staff disappear; he would not use it against Danny right now. “Let’s start with some basics first. Try to attack me as if I was an enemy of yours.” He wanted to observe Danny’s fighting. To get a better impression on what the boy needed to improve. That was the best way to determine Danny’s weaknesses and strengths.</p><p>“Alright.” Danny took up his fighting stance and got ready to fire his first blows. He charged at the older ghost shooting ghost rays at him. The time ghost dodged them all with ease. The teen’s fighting tactic was, that there is no tactic. </p><p>It was his turn too attack now. He quickly blasted two of his own rays at Danny. The other tried to dodge them but one of them grazed his arm a bit. Phantom tried to attack again but Clockwork was faster and pushed the teen on the ground.</p><p> </p><p>Danny panted heavily under him. “That…. was fast.” The teen sighed defeated. Clockwork let go of the boy and stood up. He offered Danny a hand and helped him up. </p><p>“Not too bad, but you are still way to slow and unconcentrated. It took you a lot of time to gather energy for your attack. Also, you need to learn how to read your enemy better. It makes dodging much easier and less exhausting.” Stated the time ghost.</p><p>“Using raw strength only is not the key to winning a fight. Let’s start working on your ecto-energy control first.” Clockwork summoned some energy in his open hand and let it glow in a cyan hue. </p><p>“It is important for you to focus on what you want to do with your energy and where you want it to focus. This can be hard in the beginning but since you already know the basics it should be easy for you to improve fast.”</p><p>The younger nodded. “But how do I do it properly?”</p><p>“To me it looks like you are trying to use your muscles to control your energy, but if you use your muscles to build up ecto-energy it will block your flow and makes it harder for you to control your powers.” The ghost explained. </p><p>“You have to get it into your head that your muscle power and ecto-power is separated from each other. Let’s try it with a simple exercise.”</p><p>Clockwork stepped up to Danny and took both of his hands into his own. “Close your eyes and focus on your core.” The boy did as he said. “Now try to feel your energy and try to let it naturally pool into your hands.”</p><p>Danny’s brows furrowed. “No, now you are forcing it again. You need to relax more. Imagine it as a light coming from within you that flows into your hands.” Clockwork advised “I understand that it is hard for you at first. Because you are still living like a normal human. Most ghost need time to get used to their powers.”</p><p>The halfas face relaxed and he took a deep breath. A green glow started to form in his hands. “Good. Now try to remember this feeling and we fight again once more.”</p><p>Danny opened his eyes. A look of determination in them. “Alright and this time I will kick your ass!”</p><p>Clockwork smirked. “We will see about that, now shall we?”</p><p>They both got back to Danny trying to hit him with his ecto-beam and Clockwork dodging and correcting him. After a few hours, Danny got quite the hang of it and was now able to shoot much faster than before.</p><p>“We should call it a day. I think it is enough for now.” Clockwork exclaimed. Daniel was panting and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think I’ve had enough for today.”</p><p>They both flew into the library together and Danny threw himself onto one of the seats that where placed the room. </p><p>“Danny do you know how to play chess?” Clockwork asked as he put some of his books back into the shelf. “Yeah, I’ve played a few times with my sister, but I am not very good at it.”</p><p>“Would you like to play a few games? I could teach you some tricks and the next time you play with your sister you will surely win against her. You could also see it as a tactic training.” The time ghost suggested and looked over to Danny.</p><p>“Sounds good, I actually wanted to get my revenge on Jazz at chess. I try.” Clockwork snapped his fingers and a floating chessboard appeared in front of Danny’s seat. He flew over to the teen and sat across from him. “I hope I have not forgotten to much about playing chess. I haven’t played for … a while you could say.”</p><p>“I am sure you are still better than me even if you would have not played for 1000 years, but don’t go easy on me CW.” Clockwork chuckled mischievously. “I promise I won’t. You may begin.”</p><p>Danny pondered a bit about his first moves and started. Then Clockwork made his move. This went on for a while. While Danny always took a while to make his moves, Clockwork never needed to think about his moves for too long. The teens moves were pretty easy to look through. His moves were actually quite similar to his fighting style. </p><p>The boy looked confident of victory. The last few rounds, he captured a few of Clockworks pieces and Danny had now the most pieces on the bord. </p><p>Clockwork moved his queen. “Checkmate.” Danny shot up. “What?! No way!” Clockwork smirked at the boy. “You were playing pretty carelessly the last rounds you didn’t even notice my plan.” He facepalmed groaning. “Man, and I thought my plan was going so well!”</p><p>“I can show you a few tactics and the next time you will beat me for sure.” The older chuckled. Danny wasn’t an experienced player. He noticed this the first few moves were he just tried to capture as many pieces of him as possible. </p><p>They went on talking about different moves and tactics for a bit longer until Daniel left for his evening patrol.</p>
<hr/><p>The rest of the week went on uneventful. Danny going on his patrol. Sometimes with his friends, sometimes alone. He was slowly getting used to living at the Clocktower. He trained a few times with Clockwork again and afterwards they played chess together. He was still terrible at this game, but he was getting better, but he was still far from beating Clockwork at chess.</p><p>Everyday Danny waited anxiously for any news from his sister. There was not much happening at home though. His parents were still doing researching on his DNA and scanning Amity Park for his energy signature. It was just a question of time that they would realize, why they were not able to track Phantom.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Next chapter will probably take some more time till I post it. Also I have been thinking about what element Clockwork's core could have? Like Danny has an ice core, I will make Vlad's a fire core, because i really like the headcanon of him having the opposite element than Danny, and I had the idea to give Clockwork an air core, because I think that would be the closest element I can imagine would fit for him? Tell me how you like the idea or if you have another idea. It won't be an important part of the story, but I just like to have everything covered. Speaking of which, Danny does not get hungry in his ghost form lol. In case anyone wonders why he eats nothing.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Vlad desperately searching for Danny? More likely than you think.</p>
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    <p>Vlad paced around his laboratory. He had been searching for Danniel for days now in the Ghost Zone. There was no single trace of him. He noticed that he was still strolling through Amity Park at night, but he knew confronting the boy directly wouldn’t be of much use. </p><p>There was no way Daniel would tell him where and with whom he was staying and he would definitely not want to come to him and live at his place all of a sudden. At least not voluntary.</p><p>He even tasked Skulker with tracking the boy down in the ghost dimension to find out where he was hiding, but he also had no success in finding the boy. It bothered him that he did not know where Daniel was. After all, where could he hide that not even Skulker was able to find him?</p><p>His patience was getting thin. Maybe trapping him would be the easiest way in the end. He sighed angrily and ruffled his hair completely messing up his ponytail.</p><p>Suddenly his newly built ghost portal activated and Skulker stepped through it. “Still no trace of that brat. I’ve searched everywhere. There is no place in the Ghost Zone where he could hide from me! Are you sure he is in the Ghost Zone?”</p><p>“Yes, he has to be. Phantom has a routine and patrols through town almost every day at the same time to hunt the ghosts here in Amity Park. He always appears out of nowhere and then after his patrol he disappears again without a trace. He must have some sort of teleportation device which teleports him to the other side.” Plasmius muttered angrily. </p><p>“But where could he have gotten such a powerful device?! I have been searching for something like that for what feels like an eternity and he just gets one from his ghost friend!” He rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance and anger. </p><p>Not even Skulker had any luck with finding him. Vlad had no patience to waste more time searching for that kid any longer. He had other things to do as well. </p><p>“Change of plans. You will try to capture the boy and bring him to me. In exchange you will get the new gear I promised you.”</p><p>“I have been waiting for you to say that. It was getting frustrating. Especially when that kid runs around freely in this city. I will capture him in no time. I lure him into a trap here in the human world.” He laughed evilly. “And I already have an idea how I will do that.”</p><p>“Good. Do your thing. I have other work to do.” He did not want to think of his work to be honest. Today he had a speech planed in front of the city hall. He had to keep his reputation as a mayor upright or else the people would start to distrust him.</p><p>So he decided to hold a speech every few weeks. Informing the people of his new ghost measurements and the momentary situation of the town.<br/>
Skulker would hopefully catch Phantom in the meantime.</p><p>“Don’t screw this up Skulker.” He threatened.<br/>
“I won’t. Just leave this to me.” Skulker went intangible and left his basement.</p><p>Annoyed he turned himself back human and went to get ready for his appointment.</p>
<hr/><p>It was about 1 pm when his phone started to ring. Right now, he was sitting in the library taking a quick break from his training. </p><p>Sam was calling. She usually never called during the day without a good reason. Something must have happened. </p><p>“Yes Sam? What’s wrong?” He answered the phone hastily. “Danny! Skulker is running havoc around town and is tyrannizing the towns folk! You have to help us stop him! Tucker and I have been trying to capture him, but we failed so far.”</p><p>“I’ll be right there with you! I’ll come as soon as I can!” He shot up from his sitting spot and ended the call. “Clockwork we need to quit our training for today. Skulker is running havoc in my hometown. I need to stop him before someone gets seriously hurt.”</p><p>Clockwork looked at him. “We can continue tomorrow. Be careful. That could be a trap.”</p><p>The boy responded with a quick nod and teleported to Amity park. Well, it was definitely a trap. Skulker had been working together with Vlad in the past. </p><p>He surely got the task to search for Danny and hunt him down, not wanting to make his own hands dirty. But there was no way around it. He had to get rid of Skulker.</p><p>He just had to be extra careful and look out for any new potentially dangerous equipment Skulker could possibly have or any new ghost traps. At the moment the hunter ghost was more dangerous than his parents. </p><p>Sure his parents had a lot of dangerous ghost hunting equipment, but Vlad knew how to make weapons that work specifically for halfas. This made Skulker way more effective against him and he managed to hurt Danny badly over the course of the past months.</p><p>The boy appeared quite close to the center of the city. He should have thought a bit more about where he was teleporting himself at. He was close to the town hall and noticed a crowd gathering at the place in front of it.</p><p>He groaned internally. Today surely was one of Vlad’s stupid ghost speeches. If they just knew that the biggest threat to this city was right in front of them. Another problem was though, that his father never missed one of Vlad’s speeches and knowing him he surely managed to drag his mother with him.</p><p>He turned himself invisible and scanned the crowd for his parents and of course they were there. This was definitely a problem. How should he fight Skulker without them noticing?</p><p>He closed his eyes and tried to sense Skulker. He could feel the presence of the ghost. He was close. </p><p>Snapping his eyes open he barely managed to dodge a projectile which was shot at him. ‘Damn it!’ Skulker already spotted him.</p><p>The bullet exploded beside him where it hit the ground and he was thrown back by the force of the impact and turned back visible.</p><p>Screaming was heard from the crowd. Throwing a quick glance over to his parents he saw that they, of course, brought their equipment with them and where now in full attack mode.</p><p>Great. Everything went just how it was not supposed to be. “Skulker let’s take this fight somewhere else!”</p><p>Skulker laughed. “You wish. This makes capturing you way easier! And now let’s go. I have a mission to fulfil.” Skulker aimed his missiles at the teen.</p><p>He was right. Skulker had gotten the task from Vlad to capture him and his plan was to trap him in an area full of people so that he could not fight seriously without hurting anyone. Just great. He played right into his hands.</p><p>And on top of that his parents noticed him as well. Even they were now able to put one and one together and notice that their equipment was not picking up his ecto-signal.</p><p>At least Vlad could not interfere or else he would risk losing his cover as harmless mayor. Danny took a deep breath and prepared himself to fight back.</p>
<hr/><p>Vlad was in the middle of his speech when the explosion detonated. This was Skulkers great plan to lure the boy out? He should have known better. Groaning internally, he watched the scene unfold.</p><p>Vlad looked over to were he saw the Fentons. They pulled out their equipment and were shouting into the crowd. “No worries citizen! We well take care of this ghost problem and get rid of them for once and for all.”</p><p>He did not expect the Fentons to react that harsh if he was being honest. He always thought they would just accept Daniel as a half ghost. This reaction was definitely not what he expected. </p><p>Skulker shot another blast and almost hit a family if Phantom had not shielded them. Vlad was angry, but he could not turn into Plasmius here to stop Skulker and punch some sense into him. </p><p>It was too risky with all those people watching. If he disappeared now, someone would surely notice his absence. Worst case would be that the Fentons would notice that he was a halfa as well.</p><p>He saw Maddie shooting with one of their ghost weapons at Skulker. Skulker dodged it with ease though, but lost control of his own weapon and fired a shot which was coming right in Vlad’s direction. </p><p>He had no chance of avoiding it. There was not enough space to jump aside on his podium. Vlad lost his footing and fell backwards. Too late now. The missile would hit him. He closed is eyes and tried to protect his face with his arm even though he knew that it would help nothing.</p><p>But the impact never came. He looked back up and noticed Daniel in front of him panting heavily. He had protected him. Phantom quickly countered Skulkers attack with his own ectoblasts </p><p>He shoots at him skilled and quickly. The boy had gotten a lot better in controlling his powers. Almost every blast hit Skulker spot on and soon his armour was destroyed. He pulled out the Fenton Thermos and captured him.</p><p>The crowd cheered at their saviour. Daniel floated above them and smiled exhausted. He seemed to have used up a lot of his energy. Vlad got up and brushed some dust of his clothing. </p><p>Suddenly Phantom was tossed to the ground and trapped under a net. He groaned and winced in pain. “No worries! This ghost won’t be a threat to you any longer!” Jack Fenton exclaimed. Maddie was standing beside him with a net thrower which was still smoking a bit from the shoot. </p><p>Vlad cursed internally. That idiot just had to show off in front of everyone instead of escaping. He should have known that he was an easy target for his parents now. </p><p>The boy struggled against the net but was helpless. The Fentons stepped closer to Daniel on the ground. </p><p>“No let him free! He is our saviour!” Screamed a girl. “Yeah he saved our city and even protected the mayor!” Shouted a blonde boy from the other side. Maddie spoke up. “All ghosts are a threat to us! We cannot let them roam free around our town! We don’t know what their goal is!”</p><p>“I am not planning anything mischievous! I just want to protect everyone of this town!” Phantom answered panting still trying to free himself. </p><p>Vlad walked up to them. He had to convince them to let him free. Maybe if everyone protested enough, they would leave Phantom alone for once and for all? The people would not want anything bad happening to their precious hero, right?</p><p>“The ghost boy just saved everyone. You should let him go.” Vlad said to them fixing his tie. “He seems to be serious with wanting to protect or city.” “What? But Vladdie you said yourself that we need to get rid of Phantom and that he is a threat to us?” Jack looked at Vlad confused.</p><p>“Yes, that is true. I thought that Phantom wants to harm us or manipulate us. But he has saved us more than once now and I am starting to believe that he means it.” Vlad glanced down at the boy. “Now we are even, my boy.” He whispered to Daniel when the Fentons were not paying attention to him and the crowd was too noisy for anyone else to hear his voice. </p><p>“If you try to hurt him, we will never forgive you, Fentons!” An older lady grumbled.</p><p>“Let our hero go! Let our hero go!” The people started to shout. Maddie and Jack looked at each other in defeat. Maddie walked forward and deactivated the force filed of the ghost net, freeing Danny. </p><p>The teen immediately flew out. He threw a quick glance towards his parents and Vlad before he disappeared.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ok sorry guys that this chapter took so long. I actually wanted to be a bit further into the plot by now, but I had a school assignement to finish so i did not have a lot of time and motivation to write on something else ^^'. Also I still have to figure some things out on how i want to continue with the plot so everything is coming together well. Hope you still enjoy this chapter and that you are all healthy!</p>
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